CYCLING AND MOTORING.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 15162, 4 October 1913, Page 13

CYCLING AND MOTORING.

The fine riding of the N.S.W. amateur road crack, E. W. Pederseu, who has in turn won th 0 N.S.W. Duniop road championship and the Goutburn Sydney road race, could not have happened at a more opportune time than just now whilst the question of Australasia bemg suitably represented at tne next Olympic Games at Berln is receiving public attention and support. Cycling will play an important part m the next Oiympic Games (in 1916' and judging by the performance registered by Pedersen in the Goulburn event which ho carried off from scratch, rdmg the 131 miles in 6hrs. items. SOsecs., Australia, all goinoi_ with in "tho . meantime* wdl have a worthy representative. Of course tho Sydney or&ek has two years yet to go, but as ho is only, twenty, years oi age he should improve in the interim, and if he does, he would hav© every chance of emulating R. Lewis, the South African rider, who carried off the Olympic road ewent- held in Sweden last year. Soma keen judges of road racing in N.S.W. state that £?V eT, ? en « P D °a Kirkham's class. Ihis is claiming a lot for a comparatively new rider especially when we consider what a wonderful series of rides Kirkham has put up notably his unpaced efforts of 100 miles in 4 hrs, 36mins, and 25 miles in fiOmins. 30} sec 3., and his competition rido in S.A. of 110 miles in 4hTs. 30mins. 18secs. Pedersen failed by five minutes to reach Kirkhain's Goulburn-Sydneiy record but that performance alone, good as it undoubtedly was, does not entitle him to yet rank with Kirkham, who is not only, the greatest • road rider Australia has produced, but probab'y th© finest unpaced rider in the world. With experience and age Pedersen looks like developing into a top notcher, and if funds are to be devoted towards developing Australia's leading amateurs with a view to selecting representatives for the Berlin carnival, then the Sydney crack is one that should he especially coached with that end in view.

The Royal Automobile Olub of Great ■ Britain will again take up motor tar road racrug-next year, when a GOO miles race, spread over two successive days will be decided in the "Tourist Trophy" course on the Is!e of Man. Th e events will be limited to cars of nominally 20 h.p. with engines of a cubic capacity of not more than 3310 cubic centimetres (the Sunbeam racers whrch figured so prominently in the French Grand Prix-of 1912 and 1913, had an engine capacity of 4494 c.c.) whilst there will be a fuel prize, but no fuel is eligible for the prize if it contains more than 10 per cent of petrol. The contest will be held next June, th© first prize being a valuable trophy and £louo* cash. No manufacturer will be allowed to enter more than three cars. The last big road speed contest organised in England was the "Tourist Trophy" car race., held in the Isle of Man in, 1907, when' the small ear division was won bj E.; Courtis on a Rover, and the senier division by G. P. Mills on a, Humber. The late Hon. O. S. Rolls won this race on a 20 h.p. Rolls-Royce in 1906. All told £I6OO worth of cash prizes will be .distributed. Is it the machine or man that wing the race? For the second time in succession the winner of th» French Grand Prix has crossed the finishing Fne before Irs competitors. Closely following the winner another driver, who has figured prominently- in the successes of th B year, completed the 569 mile course wi'thin three minutes of'the time of the. winner and driving the .same make of machine. If it is Bo : llot and Gouxwho win .the' races,. the valuo of ;these! events, says an American writer, r is distinctly less as a factor in the advance in the art of building a good automobile than if it is the Peugeot car. After all the basic idea of these j gruelling conteate i§ n&t ,60 njuoh, i<V

the development of the racing driver as it is for the development of the car. Granted that it . takes the highest form of courage and skill to successfully guide the specially constructed speed monsters, it is granted that it takes the keenest metallurgist to make a crank-shaft that will lire through the contest. .It takes the best designer to make an oiling system that will put the lubricant into...-.the bearingis regularly, and fast enough! to prevent their burning out under the tremendous duty imposed upon them when travelling over 500 miles at an average of 70 m.p.h. The race is often lost before .the driver takes his seat. The race is not decided so much at. the finishing line as it is in the chemical laboratory of the maker. The heat-treating furnace is a big factor in deciding the winner. The best driver' in the world is helpless with a motor that suddenly pokes its connecting rod through the sid e wall of the crank-case, or has its crank-shaft revolving in a mass of molten babbtt. Therefore, let us give the' car credit also.